WHAT IS AESTHETICS

Aesthetics (/ɛsˈθɛtɪks/; also spelled æsthetics and esthetics also known in Greek as Αισθητική, or “Aisthētiké”) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty.[1][2] It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments ofsentiment and taste.[3] More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as “critical reflection on art, culture andnature.”[4][5] In modern English, the term aesthetic can also refer to a set of principles underlying the works of a particular art movement or theory: one speaks for example of the Cubist aesthetic.

Aesthetics and the philosophy of art

For some, aesthetics is considered a synonym for the philosophy of art since Hegel, while others insist that there is a significant distinction between these closely related fields. In practice, aesthetic judgement refers to the sensory contemplation or appreciation of an object (not necessarily an art object), while artistic judgement refers to the recognition, appreciation or criticism of art or an art work.

Philosophical aesthetics has not only to speak about art and to produce judgments about art works, but has also to give a definition of what art is. Art is an autonomousentity for philosophy, because art deals with the senses (i. e. the etymology of aesthetics) and art is as such free of any moral or political purpose. Hence, there are two different conceptions of art in aesthetics: art as knowledge or art as action, but aesthetics is neither epistemology nor ethics.

NEO DADA

Neo-Dada was a movement with audio, visual and literary manifestations that had similarities in method or intent with earlier Dada artwork. In the United States the term was popularized by Barbara Rose in the 1960s and refers primarily, although not exclusively, to work created in that and the preceding decade. There was also an international dimension to the movement, particularly in Japan and in Europe, serving as the foundation of Fluxus, Pop Art and Nouveau réalisme.[1]

FLUXUS

Fluxus is an international and interdisciplinary network[1] or movement of artists, poets, composers, and designers of the 1960s and 1970s, noted for experimental syntheses of different artistic media and disciplines. Participants from fields as diverse as art, poetry, economics, and chemistry produced performance “events,” which included enactments of scores, “Neo-Dada” noise music, and time-based works, as well as concrete poetry, visual art, urban planning, architecture, design, literature, and publishing. Many Fluxus artists share an anti-commercial and anti-art sensibility.

Fluxus is sometimes described as intermedia. In 1964, Fluxus artist, poet, and publisher Dick Higgins identified and named the category of intermedia to explain new syntheses of two or more unrelated media or disciplines.[2] The ideas and practices of composer John Cage influenced Fluxus, especially his notion that one should embark on an artwork without a conception of its end, and his understanding of the work as a site of interaction between artist and audience.

The process of creating was privileged over the finished product.[3] Another influence was the readymades of Marcel Duchamp, a French artist who was active in Dada (1916-c. 1922). George Maciunas, the self-proclaimed founder of this fluid movement, coined the name Fluxus in 1961 to title a proposed magazine.

The Fluxus movement… developed its ‘anti-art’, anti-commercial aesthetics under the leadership of George Maciunas. Fluxus staged a series of festivals in Paris, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London and New York, with avant-garde performances often spilling out into the street. Most of the experimental artists of the period, including Alison Knowles,Joseph Beuys, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Dick Higgins, and Wolf Vostell took part in Fluxus events. The movement, which still continues in diverse forms, played an important role in the opening up of definitions of art.

What is Fluxus?

Yoko Ono, Paik, Vostell,…Fluxus-Happening-Artists, 1990

George Maciunas

George Maciunas was a Lithuanian-American artist. He was a founding member and the central coordinator of Fluxus, an international community of artists, architects, composers, and designers. ~ Wikipedia